Gridlocks choke Dubai's morning rush-hour traffic

Schools' reopening, post-Ramadan and -Eid office timings and end-of-summer return to business season, has contributed to gridlocks in various parts of the city of Dubai, especially in areas leading to and around schools.

Traffic movement in the city has come down to a crawl between 8am to 9am, reminiscent of the days of the boom when roads were choked with cars, and getting around in time for anything was nigh impossible.

The slow movement - and even chaos in some locations - has been compounded with the seeming absence of traffic police and RTA provisions to ensure smooth flow near schools.

More than 700,000 students joined school at the start of this week and more will begin school in the coming days. With schools urging parents to drop their children in the first few days to help them to get used to going to school, more cars are on the road in the mornings.

"It took me half an hour to get across a 100 metre road near some schools in Gardens," said a visibly irritable motorist.

"The Al Hadiqa Road leading to Safa Park and Union Co-op in Jumeirah, for some reason was chock-a-block this morning," said another driver. "It took me a good half an hour to get from Bowling Centre crossing to the Union Co-op signal."

On Sunday morning, Emirates 24|7 saw choatic scenes in Gardens where two schools are located.

The roads leading to the schools have two lanes each. Both entry points were choked with buses, cars and children walking to school. Cars were parked haphazardly at the roundabout, leading to restrictions on movement of traffic.

There is no parking close to the schools unlike in other parts of the city, forcing parents to abandon their cars along the roads and at the roundabout to escort their children to the school in time for the opening.

Harrassed school security personnel were trying as best as they could to bring some order to the choas with irate motorists mostly ignoring the school staff efforts to guide them.